Did the Redskins Learn Anything From #RedskinsPride?

What did Washington’s NFL team learn from last week’s social-media misadventure? Apparently nothing.

Bruce Allen, the team’s president, general manager, and mouthpiece, tells the Washington Post that #RedskinsPride—the hashtag he asked fans to use in messages to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who does not like the team’s name—was a brilliant success.

From the Post:

“The social media is the way people get information now, and our fans have spoken very loudly in support of what we’ve been doing,” Allen said in a phone interview Monday. “We got a very good response from our fans.

“Thousands of our fans responded, including hundreds of Native Americans, saying we are their favorite team. I do think that’s the message we’ve been hearing.”

Besides the fact that most people just call it “social media,” not “the social media,” Allen’s memory doesn’t quite match up with the events of last Thursday. The most visible responses to Allen’s missive for #RedskinsPride were overwhelmingly against the team’s name, on-field performance, and relationship with its fan base, with a tiny smattering of support.

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Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.